


Common Threads

by SmolBeanDrabbles



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Docu-drama, Expect a lot of fashion related puns, Gen, Slight Catalyst references, Whilst there is no central romance there will probably be a lot of mentioned 'romance', mock-umentary, no seriously don't look at the timelines too closely, please ignore the fact that my timelines are wack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27165748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolBeanDrabbles/pseuds/SmolBeanDrabbles
Summary: When Krennic is attacked by a band of rebel insurgents and they get away with vital information, the Empire devise a rather unusual punishment..
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Common Threads

**Author's Note:**

> This one comes with its own story. I came across this gem on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFuXqASDWx9/
> 
> Then listened to the whole podcast (54:33-61:20 specifically) : https://open.spotify.com/episode/5T6B5ISu6KvBJ3kTrtJ3LH
> 
> And knew I *had* to ask to write this.
> 
> So, all credit, and I mean ALL credit, to Harry & Rob @ Stop Making Sense Podcast. They’re real ones!  
> REAL ones.  
> Thank you both for letting me write such a genius idea!
> 
> Also please support these guys, they’re so great and so funny! Highly recommended! 
> 
> Lyrics: Clarity by Kim Petras

\---

_I know what I want  
And I'ma go and get it,  
I'm a number one,  
I know you won't forget it  
Keep my eyes on the prize, no surprise that I'm lit  
I be cruisin', you be snoozin'  
That's why you losin', I'm oozin'  
Confidence is boomin', boomin'_

_I ain't worried 'bout nada  
'Less it Gucci, 'less it Prada  
'Less it Dolce and Gabbana  
'Less a trip to the Bahamas  
I wanna feel like I'm way up  
Stay lit every single day I wake up  
  
I ain't worried 'bout shit, you a parody  
Ain't no wonder why they all so scared of me  
I'm a rarity, I got clarity _

\-- _-_

The communications device rumbled across the table again, begging to be picked up. This time it annoyed her; she’d managed to ignore it up to now but if it interrupted the meeting one more time she was in danger of being thrown out. She pulled it from the table, glaring.   
The person on the other end of the line, who clearly needed her desperately, could have only been one of two people – and due to the frequency, she could easily narrow it down to one. _Krennic._  
And if it was her boss, she’d find that highly ironic, considering he’d been the one to tell her how imperative it was she took note of every little thing said here. ‘I don’t want a single detail missed Lieutenant; do you understand me!?’   
It continued to buzz on and off feebly in her lap as she listened to the group of commanders drone on and on… but at least it wasn’t disturbing anyone but her anymore.  
  
Upon exiting the meeting it rang again, probably for the billionth time, and she answered:  
“Director.”   
He seemed a little taken aback that she knew it was definitely him, “What took you so long to pick up!?”  
“I was in a briefing _you_ told me to go to! And yes, before you ask, I made all your notes. I’ll send you a copy of them right away.”  
“Well forget about that, I have something far more urgent for you to attend to!”  
“Sir?” She stilled in the corridor, ready to run in whichever direction he commanded.  
Krennic’s voice lowered to a hiss, “This is very embarrassing Lieutenant, and I would prefer you kept it discreet. Can you get yourself to my place?”  
“Yes, Sir.”  
She waited for a further instruction, yet upon receiving none but “Good, and make it quick, Suraya.” and the click of a terminated communication, she supposed that the only thing to do was board a shuttle to his apartment and pray that his version of urgent was not ‘I need a suit for a ball tonight, and your help to pick one!’ … _again._  
  
  
***  
  


Nothing appeared out of the ordinary when she stepped off the ship, smoothing out her uniform as she did so. Krennic was waiting for her by the door and ushered her in quickly – _what could this have been about?_  
Suraya’s question was answered before he’d even closed the door, “Oh… my…” Her eyes traced slowly from floor to wall to ceiling, but there wasn’t a part of his apartment that wasn’t ransacked. “…word.” She finished, not able to think of something better to say.  
Krennic stepped forward into the room, arms crossed and staring hard at everything before turning to her. “Rebels!”  
“…Rebels?” Suraya immediately questioned, “In _your_ house? ON Coruscant?” That didn’t make any sense, “They wouldn’t dare!”  
“Well they did!” He indicated around, then waved her forward, implying she should join him.   
“How?”  
“That’s what you’re here for.”   
“I’m hardly a detective, Director… where were you?”  
His blue eyes lowered to the floor and he chewed his lip, face a little flushed – she could bet from embarrassment and anger. Therefore his answer was a little mumbled, “Not conscious.”  
Suraya couldn’t help stifle a laugh which turned his steely gaze on her, “The rebels knocked you out?” She scanned the room again, “Well did they break in, there’s no broken glass or forced entry?”  
“...No.” Krennic was hesitant, and the lieutenant knew she’d missed something, turning in a complete circle on the balls of her feet, she stopped as she eyed the bed. Bed sheets rumpled and his clothes strewn nonchalantly around, there was no evidence that he’d been with anyone, but Suraya knew better.  
“Where’s the woman?”  
“What woman!?” Although there was hesitation in Krennic’s voice again. She quirked an eyebrow as she looked back at him; there wasn’t a planet in the Galaxy that didn’t know about his reputation. Her look was enough to get him to confess.  
“She was here when I was blindsided, when I came to _, nothing!”_ She doubted this account by the fact that, although Krennic looked fairly unscathed, there was a mark above his eye. He’d likely let them in and would never admit it. He grumbled again, “What kind of woman would just answer the door to the rebellion!?” Or maybe that was it, but Suraya doubted Krennic would have just _let_ anyone else answer his door for him without express permission or command.   
“Did it occur to you she was a rebel?”  
The Director nearly laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation, then composed himself. “ _Nah._ I would have known. Anyway, why would she?!”  
Suraya let her eyes linger on him a little longer than she perhaps ought to; “I dunno, if I got the opportunity to say I’d slept with you, I would. Your reputation does precede you, Director Krennic. Why not take the opportunity to see if the rumours are true?”  
Krennic flushed but automatically dismissed it, “No. There’s no way. Self-respecting rebels would never-! And I---” She kept her mouth shut for now, and pushed a scoff and a taunt back down where they belonged. “---No. No.”  
  
As he began walking across the floor, musing to himself, Suraya traced his footsteps. “Well, what did they take?”  
“Hm?”  
“If they’ve overturned everything here, then they were looking for something Director, what have they found? What was here?”  
“Most of my research is back with Galen at the Eadu facility. I suppose there are a few data packs… but that’s general Weapons Division stuff. And-” Krennic turned quickly, trying to figure out where he’d last seen his personal data pad. He wasn’t about to outwardly look flustered about this though, he’d been in little mishaps before and he’d always come out of them on the right side of things. This was just another one of those, Krennic told himself he had nothing to worry about.  
Something else was pressing on the lieutenant’s mind as she watched him move around, and Suraya wasn’t thinking as she interrupted him to voice it. “Where’s your cape?” Suraya wasn’t sure he wore it all the time. Did he wear it when he relaxed? There weren’t so many times she’d seen Krennic in civvies or ever had a reason to come over here, unless it was for an early morning pre-meeting briefing; by which time he was usually up and dressed. But he was certainly in his uniform right now – so, where was the most iconic piece of it?  
Then Krennic really did go red and in his attempt to stutter through a sentence, couldn’t, and had to sit down, running his hands over his face. Then it all clicked; this was what was so urgent. It wasn’t that the rebels had come here, upturned his place, perhaps stolen documents – Krennic was annoyed about that but he wasn’t _bothered_ by it. The information he was about to impart to her was his top concern.  
“It’s gone.” He managed, muffled slightly behind his hands. Okay, but he had more, right? Krennic wasn’t the type of man to keep one copy of a uniform around, especially when he was so picky about tailoring. Those poor imperial tailors were yelled at if there was even so much as a stitch wrong. She was pretty sure that he’d even stood over their shoulders to watch them remake it after he’d sent it back.   
“There’s more than just one, isn’t there?” If there wasn’t, he at least had a rainwear version he could substitute until they made him another. Krennic just shook his head, but still wasn’t looking up.  
  
Suraya crossed to his wardrobe, pulling it open and immediately seeing the problem. She stepped back with a gasp. By _‘it’s gone’_ Krennic didn’t just mean the cape, he meant his entire closet was empty. No uniforms, no finely tailored suits (that he spent who knows how many credits on just so he was on trend), nothing. There was a single note stuck to the inside of the door, which upon reading Suraya found was indeed from the rebellion – but also fairly unrepeatable. She untacked it and walked back to him.   
“…Well, that’s a story you’ll have to tell Uniform.”  
“They’ll make my life hell.” He protested, suddenly regretting all the times he’d had them redo his clothing over one stitch, finally taking his head out of his hands and looking up at her, “I can’t leave my house like this!”  
“At least you have a uniform, Sir.” Was the best she could do, and by the looks of it Krennic also had whatever he’d been wearing last night, so not all was lost. Still, Suraya knew why she’d been called here, “I’ll put an expedited request in for you.”  
He nodded, and opened his mouth to verbally agree, when there was another sharp knock at his door that demanded both of their attention.  
“Director Krennic! Open this door at once!” Her heart dropped and Krennic groaned,  
“This is **_just_** what I need!” He stood, turning back to his assistant, “I TOLD you not to say anything.”  
“I didn’t! It’s not like I knew this had anything to do with the rebels before I got here-!” Suraya would have hit him with her data pad if she thought it would get her anywhere.  
Krennic swivelled from the door to her and then back to the door, “Then how the hell does Tarkin know!?”  
Forced to play defensive she held her hands up, and said her next sentence almost hopefully, “We don’t know he does, maybe that’s not what he’s here for!”  
  
  
***  
  
  
Krennic took the deepest of deep breaths as he cracked the door open, leaving Suraya to stand to attention on one side of the room, data pad behind her back keeping it dead straight, a trick she’d learned was pretty useful as a cadet.   
“Governor Tarkin, how may I assist you?”  
“Let us in, Director, my day is very busy and I don’t have time for this, particularly.” Tarkin was curt as ever, it didn’t help Orson’s mood.  
“Time for what?” Clearly Krennic’s feign of ignorance wasn’t making him friends.  
“Oh, out of the way, Krennic! We spotted some Rebel insurgents leaving atmosphere and on breaking down the contrails of their craft and fuel particles in the atmosphere, it appears they came from your apartment. Now I don’t wish to accuse you of treason, but if you want to confess it might make things easier.”  
The lieutenant found herself suddenly wishing Krennic hadn’t dragged her into this first, so she could be saved from watching these two argue again. The Director scowled as he was forced to open his door wider on the chaos of his apartment.  
  
“Oh dear!” Although as Tarkin waltzed in it was clearly only said as a formality, and the sharp smile on his face let Suraya know he was about to lord this over her boss. He was followed in by no less than five other imperials, all young looking protégés, eager to survey the scene for themselves. She would suppose even if they found forensic evidence, Krennic wasn’t about to be told of it, and it also didn’t look like they were about to be too careful with his remaining things. Once Tarkin had acknowledged her presence at the scene and turned back to Krennic, still scowling, Suraya made her way quickly across the room to kick Krennic’s discarded clothing under the bed. Maybe the kids wouldn’t put two and two together, but Tarkin certainly would. Rebels were scandals themselves without a potential sleeping-with-the-enemy situation. “It seems to be a bit of a mess you find yourself in, Director.”  
“It’s hardly of my own doing.” Krennic straightened, defensive, “There were far more of them than I, I fought back but was unfortunately blindsided.”  
“I see no evidence of force entry.” Suraya shook her head subtly as Krennic’s eyes flicked momentarily to her; if he wanted to go that way, he probably should have opened a window or the balcony doors or… something.  
“Well, no, as it turns out I let them in.” She couldn’t see Tarkin’s face, but his movement and the freeze of the others in the room said everything. Krennic’s eyes momentarily flickered in panic but he controlled it, “I expected to see my assistant returning to de-brief me on the meeting I sent her to this morning.”  
Suraya did everything in her power not to look pissed that he’d just thrown her to the wolves instead, with Tarkin immediately turning, but it was not her he addressed, “I believe I know the briefing the lieutenant attended, which you also therefore would have known did not finish until after the incident took place. Why would you expect her so early?”  
Krennic shrugged coolly, “Sometimes they end early.” This wasn’t untrue, of course, but it was a big bluff. It didn’t explain why Krennic wouldn’t have checked who was knocking. Also if Tarkin had the inclination to check the call log, it would show that the Director also began his tirade of calls after the rebels had left.  
  
Krennic, having become suddenly useless, was dismissed, for Tarkin to turn back to her.   
“Lieutenant. When you arrived did you notice anything out of the ordinary?” Suraya could see Krennic gesturing out of the corner of her eye but ignored him.  
“Besides the whole place being over turned, nothing Sir.” Although she tilted her head, before pausing, immediately thinking better of it.  
“Lieutenant?” It didn’t get passed Tarkin.  
“I just don’t understand why they would take the Director’s wardrobe, Sir.” The word ‘take’ obviously alerted Tarkin to something else, and his eyes darted around the room again, Krennic walked forward, clearly bumping Tarkin’s arm on purpose as he strolled to the closet to present evidence. You watched the Governor’s little smile widen in amusement, before he became serious again,  
“Well, well, Director. You better check they’ve not stolen anything important. Especially with the project you’re working on.”  
“Anything of significance is with Galen.” Krennic disliked how quick he was to address that point, he didn’t want Tarkin to know how irked he was.  
“Still, it would be best to check. I believe that your personal data pad will have been here along with some files. Something as significant as those would not have escaped the rebels notice.”  
Krennic’s teeth gritted, as he indicated back to the closet; “My WARDROBE is gone!!” Suraya was right, that was the most important thing to him.  
Tarkin’s eyes flicked to hers, and they shared the same exchange of exasperation, unable to quite comprehend why clothing was at the forefront of Krennic’s mind.  
“As I was saying…” She almost chuckled as Tarkin made it clear on what he perceived as important and it was not Krennic’s lack of uniform, “There’ll be consequences if anything is missing, Director! This is already a dire security breach.”  
Ironically Krennic thought that was a little dramatic, but simply grumbled to himself as Tarkin took his forensics team back and exited the apartment. The Director was just glad to get them out of his hair.   
“Security breach.” He muttered, “You’d think I handed them the whole damn Project Stardust!”  
Suraya sighed gently as she made her way back over to him, “For now, Sir, I believe we should figure out exactly what data has been taken. And report it up the chain as soon as possible, less Tarkin find a reason to return. Then we can get your uniform re-ordered.”  
He turned those blue eyes back on her, at least a little brighter at that idea than they had looked when she arrived, “Yes. Let’s… let’s do that.”  
  
  
***  
  
  
It took a couple of days to overturn the damage that the rebels had done and take stock of what was actually missing. Krennic had retrieved his personal data pad, and they hadn’t managed to gain access to the most important discs in his desk. Nor his own weapon, thankfully. That didn’t mean data packs and other things of value weren’t looted. Krennic had to go through the ordeal of cancelling a lot of his access pips and cards – but they arrived fairly quickly from the Intelligence Bureau, reset.   
Suraya remained with him to assist the clean-up operation and order his uniform; this took a little longer to arrive and by the end of the second day Krennic was starting to get antsy.  
“What takes them so long!?”  
“Well you do have very exacting standards, Sir!”  
“Exactly! So they should know how to do it by now. Did I not specify clearly enough!?” She wasn’t about to answer that question. If his previous interactions with them were anything to go by the urgent note she’d placed on it was being wholly ignored and the Director would be constantly bumped to the back of the queue. She couldn’t say she’d blame them, either.  
  
On the morning of the third day, as they both anxiously awaited the results of their carefully worded email detailing exactly what documentation the rebels had stolen, Krennic received another knock at the door.  
“If this is Tarkin-”  
Suraya wasn’t about to tell him to keep a level head, but she did give him a look to tell him not to blow up.  
He opened the door to a woman dressed in civilian clothing, even though it appeared that she possessed rank pins. She had bright pink hair and light eyes and as she moved her hair flew as if she was starring in some kind of commercial.   
“Director Krennic? My name is Kora, I’m here about your uniform.”  
“About time it turned up!” He took a pace back in order for her to walk in, “Are you from Uniform? Next time you ought to tell them that when I say urgent, I mean same day-”  
Kora wasn’t done talking, and she turned back to him, saying rather bluntly, “Request denied. For letting the rebellion enter and steal documentation of the upmost importance to the Empire, YOU are going to star in a documentary about Empire approved businesses.”  
There was silence in the room for a moment and Krennic wore a half smile as he tried to work out if she was serious. Kora simply stared him down, and as the Director’s face fell, Suraya once again wished she wasn’t in the room. “No.”  
Suraya couldn’t tell if that was Krennic refusing or his own disbelief. Kora knew which way she was taking it. “Well it better be a yes before I go back, Director, or you’ll be in hot lava.”  
Krennic’s eyes widened and no one was under any illusions as to what he was thinking; “Not Mustafar again-!” There had to be a way out, he wasn’t about to waste his time on this!  
“This documentary _will_ be of the upmost importance Director. Lord Vader and the Governor only hope that you will take it seriously.”  
Suraya couldn’t help giggling behind her hand at this. It wasn’t the being in front of a camera, it wasn’t the thought of doing a documentary on business – or fashion - it was that Krennic was being forced into this by a man he hated.  
  
Krennic cleared his throat, once more folding his arms as he looked back to Kora, giving her a single nod. “Very well, but there is nothing in my wardrobe that isn’t tailored to within an inch of its life and most of it is from high end shops, some of which are on Lexrul.” Krennic was a very big advocate of his home planet after all, so he’d expect at least one part of this documentary to take place there, “So you better have budget!”  
Instead of agreeing Kora simply smiled, in the same way that Tarkin had a habit of, “Oh no, Director, we’re highlighting small businesses that scrape by for a living, right here on Coruscant, to show our support and cater to all audiences.”   
Suraya thought that his face fell even faster than it had with Tarkin around, and she also didn’t think that livid covered it.  
 **“WHAT!?”**  
“That’s the deal Director.”  
“It’s not much of a DEAL!”  
“It’s the one I’m giving you, I can take it elsewhere… and I’m sure that Lord Vader and Governor Tarkin would love to hear why you couldn’t do it.”  
The Director looked desperately to Suraya, but she wasn’t sure what she could say. How could, at her position, she possibly rescue him from what Tarkin wanted?

Realising indeed that his assistant wouldn’t be much aid to him, Krennic’s eyes fell back to Kora and he swallowed hard, smile feigning confidence - but also a little nervous.  
“Well then, I suppose I will accept your offer.”  
This time Kora’s returned smile was warm and sweet, “That’s great news, Director Krennic.” She took a step forward and extended her hand to him, “Well, as series producer and director, I’m very much looking forward to working with you. Welcome to the team.”  
Suraya bit her lip as she watched him step down to shake Kora’s hand, hoping he wasn’t crossing his fingers behind his back: this could be huge for Krennic if he used this opportunity wisely.   
  
_Things were about to get interesting around here..._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I super appreciate it, and the opportunity to do this collab!


End file.
